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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Weekly Cup Of Joe

I prefer to think of this as more of a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan than a blatant ripoff. But who are we really kidding here?

Joe was conspicuously absent from the chat page over at the Four Letter on Tuesday so I almost missed his Joe Chat today. Surely he had a good excuse for pushing it back a day. Perhaps he was studying film of freshly drafted super prospects. Let's grab a nugget of wisdom...

Woody (C-Ville)

With everyone increasing the hype about Bryce Harper, do you see him becoming a star, average player or a bust?

Joe Morgan (11:17 AM)

I've never seen him play but Strasburg has proven himself. We have to give Harper that same chance. It's harder to become a refined hitter than a pitcher. Hitting is just tougher to do, period. It's harder to find a super hitter in my opinion. That said, because I've never seen him, I'll have to see what he does. He may be the new Ted Williams, you never know.

I even have a problem with this question. Obviously, it's way too early to project what 17-year-old is going do in ten years. The hype is about his tools. He has monster power and a plus-plus arm but nobody is writing him into the Hall of Fame yet. Strasburg was a different case entirely. He destroyed college hitters and was ready to take the mound on opening day this year.

Now on to Joe's response. Why would he even take this question if he hasn't seen Bryce Harper? I'll tell you why. He just wanted to point out that it's so much harder to be a hitter rather than a pitcher. Just ignore that throwing a pitch is an unnatural motion for the human arm. Forget that pitchers blow out their elbows every year and the surgery to repair them is named after a pitcher. But yeah, hitting a baseball is hard. Really hard. I just find it strange that good pitching is always in such demand.

Since Joe hasn't seen Bryce Harper, he'll have to wait to see what he does. That's not an answer, sir. Just start making stuff up at this point. How much damage could your credibility really take? I'd respect you more if you told this guy that Bryce Harper is the greatest baseball player since Joe Morgan. No, I'm just kidding, I'd rip you more. See ya next week, Joe.